


Talking to the Moon

by GinnyK



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode Tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-06-30
Updated: 2002-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 04:48:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15112106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GinnyK/pseuds/GinnyK
Summary: Post Ep -Manchester, Part II





	Talking to the Moon

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

 

**Talking to the Moon**

**by:** Ginny 

**Category:** Post-ep to _Manchester, Part II_   
**Character:** Jed Bartlet  
**Rating:** YTEEN 

I catch the screen door behind me to keep it from slamming shut. Taking a sip of my coffee I look up and bid silent reverence to the moon in the sky as I sit down on the porch swing. 

An astronaut? 

Where in the hell did that one come from? I have no idea. Sometimes I just open my mouth and the strangest things come out. I suppose that isn't the greatest trait to have if you're the President of the United States. But generally I'm pretty good about thinking before I speak. It's just that sometimes inane bits of trivia seem to spill out of their own accord. 

Abbey is right about the astronaut thing though; I am scared of heights, speed, fire and small spaces. So now I am President. I fly all the time, sometimes the motorcade might as well be on a NASCAR track, Josh and Sam almost burned down the White House and...well, I guess I don't get stuck in too many small places. Thank God. 

But anyway, Leo was the last person here and he left a little while ago. It's after midnight and I can't sleep. That's nothing new. So I'm out here on the porch swing, looking up at the moon. 

384,400 kilometers away. Yeah, I'm geeky enough to know that off the top of my head. 

Lately I feel as if that's about how far apart Abbey and I are. Sure, we're in the same house now, but there's still a whole lot of distance between us. I suppose we made a good show of things at the rally today. Hope the whole kiss didn't come off as a staged event. For me it wasn't, but I'm not too sure about Abbey. I think, to the public it looked like a spontaneous kiss between us but something felt off...something about the whole thing felt phony. But I didn't have time to dwell on that; I had a speech to give. 

And if you ask me, the speech kicked ass. 

Everyone came back here after the rally so Abbey and I didn't get a chance to talk. She went to bed a little while ago. She was exhausted and once again I wasn't in the mood to get into a meaningful conversation. 

So, here I am, talking to the moon. 

I know sooner or later Abbey and I need to talk...who am I kidding...we need to fight. Things just keep getting in the way, mainly the whole, running the country thing. There's not exactly much I can do about that. 

See, there's something about Abbey. She usually knows what I need and what I need to do, I just don't always listen to her. But I'm glad I listened to what she said last night when she told me to reach out to the staff. 

It was something I had avoided doing for way too long. After I finished going over the speech last night, I wandered around the town square and thought about how things have been for the last 4 weeks. I came to the conclusion that things have pretty much sucked lately. 

I know deep down the staff knows why I had to bring in Bruno and the others. But that didn't stop them from feeling a little put out. Like when Mom and Dad bring a new baby home from the hospital. They feel pushed aside and left out. On top of that, they're exhausted, fighting with each other and making mistakes they don't normally make. 

And for that I feel responsible. So I apologized this morning. Not sure how great of an apology it was. Started off a little stuffy and geek like, but hey, I'm not used to writing my own speeches. I just hope it wasn't too little, too late. I don't think so. But I guess we'll see soon. 

But whatever happens I know we will have done our best. I'm confident we can all pull together, work through our differences and move on to running the campaign. 

The campaign...as hard as it is going to be, I am so looking forward to it. I'm going to enjoy the fight. 

And it looks as if I may have one vote already. 

It's getting chilly and I'm getting tired so I guess I'll try to get some sleep. 

As I take one last look at the sky I can't help but think of Zoey's favorite book when she was little. 

"Good Night, Moon." 

THE END   



End file.
